Ammunition-hoisting apparatus for ordnance



A. T. DAWSON AND J. HORNE.

AMMUNITION HOISTING APPARATUS FOR ORDNANCE.

APPLICATION HLED SEPT. 4, 192: 1,410,895.- Patented Mar. 28, 1922.

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AMMUNITION HOISTING APPARATUS FOR QRDNANCE- APPLICATION HLED SEPT, 4. I920.

Patented Mar. 28, 1922.

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UNITED; STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

ARTHUR 'rnnvon DAWSOlSl', or WESTMINSTER, LONDON, AND JAMES Home, on

mmnow-m-rmmrss, ENGLAND, ASSIGNORS r0 vrcxnns LIMITED, or WEST- I MINSTER, LONDON, ENGLAND.

AMM'UNITION-HOISTING APPARATUS FOR ORDNANGE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 28, 1922.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Sir ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON, bart, and JAMES HORNE, both subjects of the King of Great Britain, residing, respectively, at Vickers House, Broadway, Westminster, in the county of London, England, and Naval Construction Works, Barrow-in-Furness, in the county of Lancaster, England, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in or Relating to Ammunition-Hoisting Apparatus for Ordnance, (for which I have filed application in Great Britain Aug. 27, 1919,) of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to ammunition hoisting apparatus for ordnance in which the powder charges and the projectiles are supplied to the gun through a trunk which revolves with the turntable of the mounting.

According to this invention the powder charge magazine is arranged below the level of the shell room and the powder charges are raised in a lifting cage to a position opposite the shell room from which position they are transferred to a second lifting or un loading cage which also receives proectiles from the shell room the powder charges being preferably deposited in the latter cage in a position immediately above the projectile. By reason of this arrangement we are able to simplify the hoisting apparatus as only one cage for each gun is required to pass up to the gun platform or to' the transferring position as opposed to two cages (one for the rojectiles and the other for the owder 0 ar es) in arrangements heretof dre employed.

In order that the said invention may be clearly understood and readily carried into effect the same will be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings in which;

Figure 1 is a sectional side elevation showing more or less diagrammatically ammunition hoisting apparatus constructed in accordance with our invention.

Figure 2 is a sectional rear elevation of the portion of the hoistin apparatus of Figure 1 that serves the left hand gun in a twin gun turret, and

' Figure 3 is a sectional rear elevation similar to Figure 2 showing a modified arrangement of the hoisting apparatus.

A is the turret, A is the ammunition trunk which moves with the turret in training, and A? 1s the gun loading cage mounted to move vertically 1n the trunk on guide rails carried thereby. B is the shell room,

B (Figure 2) is the bogie arranged in the shell room, C is the magazine arranged below the level of the shell room, C is the lifting cage by which the powder charges are raised to a position opposite the shell room for being transferred to the gun load ing cage A this cage being disposed in a compartment B which in Figures 1 and 2 projects from the side of the trunk, and C is the powder charge container which is arranged at the lower part of the compartment B and serves for the transfer of the powder charges from the magazine C to the cage C. This container (and also each of the cages A and C) preferably has a rotary flash-proof receptacle for the powder charges as is described in the specifica tion of our co-pending application Serial No. 408,322, filed September 4, 1920. The projectiles are conveyed from the bogie B (Figure 2) to the cage A by a trolley or carrier D mounted to move on transverse guide rails D, D in the manner described in the specification of our co-pending appli. cation Serial No. 408,325, filed September 4, 1920. When the cage A is in its uppermost position the powder charges and the projectile therein are rammed by chain rammers e, c (Figure 1) into a conveyor E which is traversed into the loading position behind the n as is described in the specification of t e last mentioned of the aforesaid applications.

In the example shown by Figures 1 and 2 the discharge of the powder charges from the lifting cage G into the gun loading cage A is arranged to take place at the opposite side of the former cage from that at which the charges are received but in the example shown by Figure 3 the apparatus is modified so that the charging and discharging occur at the same side.

What we claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is 1. In ammunition hoisting apparatus for ordnance, the combination with the ammunition trunk, of a shell room near the lower end of the ammunition trunk, a powder charge magazine arranged below the level of said shell room, a cage for raising powder charges from said magazine to a position opposite the shell room, a cage for re'ceivin shells from said shell room, and means or permitting the transfer of the powder charges from the first mentioned cage to the second mentioned cage when said cages are opposite the shell room.

2. In ammunition hoisting apparatus for ordnance, the combination with the ammunition trunk, of a shell room near the lower end of the ammunition trunk, a powder charge magazine arranged below the level of said shell room, a compartment projecting laterally from the side of said trunk, a cage arranged in said compartment for receiving powder charges from said magazine and raising them to a position opposite the shell room, a cage arranged in the trunk for receiving shells from said shell room and raising them to the gun position, means for bridging said compartment for the passage of the shells from said shell room to the second mentioned cage and means for permitting the transfer of the powder charges from the first mentioned cage to the second mentioned cage when said cages are opposite the shell room.

In testimony whereof we aflix our sig natures.

ARTHUR TREVOR DAWSON. JAMES HORNE. 

